Traumatic grief (TG) is an evolving new diagnostic category for the Psychiatric Manual that identifies people experiencing an extreme grief reaction to spousal death. Studies indicate that patients experiencing TG have impairment in all functional spheres—mental, physical, and social. The Spousal Loss Model is a three-stage model framing life transition adjustment following spousal loss. Multiple case studies illustrate how the Spousal Loss Model provides a useful framework for defining interventions that reduce extreme symptomatology experienced by people diagnosed with TG.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AlanG.1994. Traditions and transitions. Psychoanalytic Review81 (1): 79–100.
2.
BliesznerR., and HatvanyL.1996. Diversity in the experience of late-life widowhood. Journal of Personal & Interpersonal Loss1:199–211.
3.
BoppM., and WeeksG.1984. Dialectic metatheory in family therapy. Family Process23 (1): 49–61.
4.
BowlbyJ.1961. Process of mourning. The International Journal of Psychoanalysis62 (4/5): 317–40.
5.
BowlbyJ.1969. Attachment and loss. Vol. 1: Attachment. New York: Basic Books.
6.
BowlbyJ.1973. Attachment and loss.Vol. 2: Separation, anxiety, and anger. London: Hogarth.
7.
BowlbyJ.1980. Attachment and loss. Vol 3: Loss.New York: Basic Books.
8.
ButzM.1992. The fractal nature of the development of the self. Psychological Reports71 (2/3): 1043–63.
9.
CarstensenL., and FreundA.1994. The resilience of the aging self. Developmental Review14 (1): 81–92.
10.
DemoD.1992. Self concept overtime: Research issues and directions. Annual Review of Sociology18:303–26.
11.
ElderG.Jr.1994. Time, human agency, and social change: Perspectives on the life course. Social Psychology Quarterly54:4–15.
12.
FurthH.1995. Self in which relation. American Psychologist50 (3): 176.
13.
FreudS.1917. Mourning and melancholia. Internationale Zeitschrift fur Arzliche Psychoanalyse4: 288–301.
14.
GallagherD. E.CreckenridgeJ. N.ThompsonL. W., and PetersonJ. A.1981-82. Effects of bereavement on indicators of mental health in elderly widows and widowers. Journal of Gerontology38:565–71.
15.
GrayC.KoopmanE., and HuntJ.1991. The emotional phases of marital separation: An empirical investigation. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry61:138–43.
16.
GrayC., and ShieldsJ.1992. The development of an instrument to measure the psychological response to separation and divorce. Journal of Divorce & Remarriage17:43–56.
17.
HorowitzM.1990. Change in schemas in self and others. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association38 (2): 297–324.
18.
HorowitzM. J.KrupnickJ., and KaltreiderN.1981. Initial psychological response to parental death. Archives of General Psychiatry38:316–23.
LowensteinA.LanduR., and RosenA.1994. Adjustment to loss of a spouse as a multivariate construct. Omega30 (4): 283–98.
26.
MarwitS., and KlassD.1994-95. Grief and the role of the inner representation of the deceased. Omega30 (4): 283–98.
27.
MorganL. S.1980. Work in widowhood: A viable option?The Gerontologist20 (5): 581–7.
28.
PrigersonH. G.FrankE.KaslS. V.1995a. Complicated grief and bereavement-related depression as distinct disorders: Preliminary empirical validation in elderly bereaved spouses. American Journal of Psychiatry152 (1): 22–30.
29.
PrigersonH. G.MaciejewskiP. K.ReynoldsC. F.IIIBierhalsH. J.NewsomJ. T.FaslczkaA.FrankE.DomanJ., and MillerM.1995b. The inventory of complicated grief: A scale to measure certain maladaptive symptoms of loss. Psychiatry Research59:65–79.
30.
PrigersonH. G.ShearM. K.FrankE.BeeryL. C.SilbermanR.PrigersonJ., and ReynoldsC. F.1996. Traumatic grief: A case of loss-induced trauma. American Journal of Psychiatry154 (7): ***1003–9.
31.
PrigersonH. G.ShearM. K.BierhalsA. J.PilconisP. A.WolfsonL. E.HallM.ZonarichD. L., and ReynoldsC. F.1997a. Case histories of traumatic grief. Omega35 (1): 9–24.
32.
PrigersonH. G.KaslS. V.ReynoldsC. F.IIIBierhalsA. J., and JacobsS.1997b. Traumatic grief as a risk factor for mental and physical morbidity. American Journal of Psychiatry154:5.
33.
PrigersonH. G.SheerM. K.JacobsS. C.ReynoldsC. F.IIIMaciejewskiP. K.DavidsonJ. R. T.RosenbeckR.PilconesP. A.WortmanC. B.WilliamsJ. B. W.WidyerT. A.FrankE.KupferD. J., and ZisookS.1999. Consensus criteria for traumatic grief: A rationale and preliminary empirical test. British Journal of Psychiatry***l74:69–73.
34.
RedfootD. L.1984. On the separatin' place: Social class and relocating among older women. Social Forces66 (2): 486–500.
35.
RutterM.1984. Psychosocial resilience and protective mechanisms. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry57 (3): 316–31.
36.
SableP.1991. Attachment, loss of spouse and elderly grief. Omega23:129–40.
37.
ShuchterS. R., and ZisookS. (1993). The course of normal grief handbook of bereavement: Theory, research, and intervention, edited by StoebeM. S.StoebeW., and HanssonR.Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
38.
StierlinH., 1988. Systemic optimism—Systemic pessimism: Two perspectives on change. Family Process27 (2): 121–27.
39.
WanT.T.H.1984. Health consequences of major role losses in later life: A panel study. Research on Aging6 (4): 469–89.
40.
WatzlawikP.WeaklandJ., and FischR.1974. Change.New York: Norton.
41.
ZisookS.1991. Adjustment to widowhood. In Biopsychosocial aspects of grief and bereavement, edited by ZisookS.Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Press.
42.
ZisookS.SchneiderS. R., and ShuchterS. R.1990. Anxiety and bereavement. Psychiatric Medicine8:83–96.
